In July 2008 Mark Padmore and Paul Lewis gave an extremely
fine performance of Winterreise at the Cheltenham International
Festival, which I reviewed for
MusicWeb International. At the end of my review I commented
that both artists record for the Harmonia Mundi label and I
expressed the hope that they might be able to take their interpretation
into the recording studio. Well, there’s good news -
and even better news. The good news is that their recording
of Winterreise is with us now. The even better news
is that recordings of Die Schöne Müllerin and Schwanengesang are
planned.

Listening to this new recording, made under studio conditions,
has been a very rewarding experience, albeit a different one
from the concert performance. Heard live, the performance had
the thrill, the electricity, of a reading caught on the wing.
You can’t quite replicate that under studio conditions,
though I’d suggest that this performance comes pretty
close. The other feature of the concert performance was the
cumulative build up of tension. I feared that quality might
be less evident in a studio reading but, in fact, I find that
Padmore and Lewis sustain and build up the atmosphere very
successfully on this CD. Winterreise is a journey, a
cumulative experience, and that’s how it comes across
here.

Throughout the performance I enjoyed and admired the clarity
of Mark Padmore’s singing; the unforced tone which, nonetheless,
has a touch of steel to it when needed; his even tone production
and his palpable involvement with the text - both the words
and the music - without ever resorting to exaggeration. The
top of his register - especially around top E to G - has a
lovely clear ring to it. His phrasing is consistently intelligent,
aided by fine breath control, and his German sounds completely
convincing to me. When I listen to a performance such as his
I realise that it’s the potential for youthful lightness
of timbre above all that makes me prefer to hear Winterreise sung
by a tenor.

All that said, I do not mean in any way to diminish the scale
of Mark Padmore’s achievement when I say that what marks
out this recording as a special one is the partnership between
singer and pianist. Just as Padmore brings his own insights
to the music, so does Paul Lewis, not least through his wonderfully
subtle touch and his seemingly effortless and natural use of
rubato. But put the two together - a sensitive, intelligent
singer and a pianist of equal quality - and you have something
rather special.

I see, looking at my notes, that I’ve recorded some comment
about something or other that I particularly relished against
virtually every one of the twenty-four songs. That’s
an indication that the interpretation is packed with details
to savour. A few examples will suffice. In ‘Der Lindenbaum’ Lewis’s
playing is most imaginative and, at the same time, attentive
to Schubert’s markings. This is but one of many examples
of his enviable pianistic touch. Padmore sings the song marvellously
and I love the fire with which both performers invest the fifth
stanza of the poem. ‘Irrlicht’ is a very difficult
song for performers to “place” but this account
is very successful due, I’m sure, to the rapport between
Padmore and Lewis. Shortly afterwards, Lewis’s light,
airy introduction to ‘Frühlingstraum’ sets
the scene superbly for Padmore’s entry. Between them
they give an expressive, varied reading of this song.

Moving into Part Two of the cycle, the tension begins to mount
in Schubert’s music and these artists respond instinctively
and successfully. Both pianist and singer realise the spare
textures of ‘Der greise Kopf’ very well indeed.
One of the songs that I esteem most highly is ‘Das Wirtshaus’ and
I really appreciated the grave weighting that Lewis achieves
in the introduction - just as he did in the live performance
- after which Padmore’s withdrawn tone, which is still
full of expression, is just right. The penultimate song, ‘Die
Nebensonnen’, occupies a mere two pages in the printed
copy but in this short span Schubert music is as deeply moving
as many works of much greater physical span. In fact the restraint
of the setting gives it its depth. The performance here is
as fine as you could wish to hear. I commented in the review
of the Cheltenham performance that Lewis conveys the drone
of the hurdy-gurdy perhaps better than any other pianist I’ve
heard and he does so again here. He and Padmore give an eerie,
withdrawn account of this strange and highly original song.

This compelling reading of Winterreise represents a
very considerable achievement. Two very fine artists have come
together and, it seems, have forged a genuine and deeply considered
musical partnership. I still recall their live performance
with a mixture of admiration and pleasure and I’m thrilled
to have it replicated so successfully on this very fine CD.
I should add that the recorded sound is first rate and Harmonia
Mundi’s documentation is excellent.

There are many excellent versions of Schubert’s great
song cycle in the catalogue but this is one that surely deserves
to be ranked alongside the very best. All lovers of lieder should
try to hear it. It’s a version to which I know I’ll
return often in the future both for pleasure and as a benchmark
and it’s made me impatient to hear Mark Padmore and Paul
Lewis in Die Schöne Müllerin and Schwanengesang.John Quinn

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